One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant endive in Owatonna by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Endive

Frost tolerance for endive:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Endive are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant endive in Owatonna is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant endive and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your endive may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your endive indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Owatonna the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Owatonna is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Owatonna you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to cover your endive in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Owatonna

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Owatonna

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Owatonna.